Spintronics at Leeds: Platform Grant

将电子自旋结合到电子学中现在被称为自旋电子学。我们在利兹的小组最近从两名学者扩大到四名学者，从事自旋电子学工作，这是考虑我们活动长期发展的适当时机。我们的一位新学者是平版印刷技术和超导性的专家，而另一位则专注于碳基电子学。这种发展意味着自旋电子学中大多数有趣的现象现在在利兹都有一些活动。量子信息（QI）是量子力学在信息处理中的应用，其长期目标是建立量子计算机。这个想法是利用量子系统的特性，即所有可能的状态都被同时“探索”。这种利用的关键是控制量子态的混合或所谓的“纠缠”。自旋是量子二能级系统中最基本和最可控的一个，因此有可能使用固态自旋电子学来创建量子比特，即基本的QI单元。我们正在与新利兹QI理论组的五位学者建立非常密切的合作，我们有一些非常有趣的建议，以发展自旋电子学在QI中应用的实验工作。这个项目将研究固态系统，以期学习如何操纵态的纠缠。我们将利用我们在自旋电子学方面的经验来处理这个问题，以控制和测量单自旋水平上的性质，控制和测量没有净电荷流因而没有耗散的纯自旋电流，并将这些发现应用于进一步理解量子纠缠。我们的提案描述了我们将如何在不同几何形状的铁磁体和超导体接触的设备中使用一些最奇特的新材料，如石墨烯;我们如何使用连接到超导体的碳纳米管来产生纠缠对和自旋极化电流，而无需施加电压。我们将发展单自旋元件，将奈米粒子嵌入绝缘体中，并利用有机分子改变金属的功函，形成单电子自旋极化的发射体。我们将联合收割机铁磁体和超导体结合在一种称为π-约瑟夫森结的设备中，以开发基于自旋的量子比特。这一应用是独一无二的，它寻求将自旋电子学和量子信息这两个在全球引起巨大关注的主题联合收割机结合起来。

The incorporation of electron spin into electronics is now known as spintronics. Our group at Leeds has recently expanded from two to four academics working on spintronics and this is an appropriate time to consider the longer term development of our activity. One of our new academics is an expert in lithographic techniques and superconductivity whilst the other specialises in carbon-based electronics. This development means that most of the interesting phenomena in spintronics now have some activity in Leeds. Quantum Information (QI) is the application of quantum mechanics to information processing with the long term objective of building a quantum computer. The idea is to exploit the property of a quantum system whereby all possible states are 'explored' simultaneously. The key to this exploitation is the control of the mixing of the quantum states or the 'entanglement' as it is known. One of the most basic and most controllable quantum two-level system is the spin, and hence there is the possibility of using solid-state spintronics for creating qubits, the basic QI unit.We are building a very close collaboration with five academics in the new Leeds QI theory group and we have some very interesting proposals to develop experimental work on the application of spintronics in QI. This project will study solid state systems with a view to learning how to manipulate the entanglement of states. We shall approach this problem by using our experience in spintronics to control and measure properties at the level of a single spin, to control and measure pure spin currents where there is no net flow of charge and hence no dissipation, and to apply these findings to further the understanding of quantum entanglement. Our proposal describes how we shall use some of the most exotic new materials such as graphene in devices contacted by ferromagnets and superconductors in different geometries; how we are using carbon nanotubes connected to superconductors to generate entangled pairs and spin polarised currents without the application of voltages. We shall develop single spin devices by embedding nanoparticles in insulators and use organic molecules to change the work function of metals and form single electron spin polarised emitters. We shall combine ferromagnets and superconductors in devices known as pi-Josephson junctions to develop spin-based qubits. This application is unique in seeking to combine two of the topics attracting huge attention globally: spintronics and quantum information.